Improvement



.A. BER N E Y. Projectile.

' Patntd July 7', 1863.

' end view of the bod lhvrrnn STATES ALFRED BERNEY, OF JE PATENT rrreiz.

riser orrr, NEW JERSEY.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39, R ll '2, dated July 7, 1863.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, ALFRED: BERNEY, of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of few Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Projectiles for Ordnance and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure l is a side View of an elongated proj ectile with my improvements. Fig. 2 is a centrallongitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a rear view of the same. Fig. 4c is a rear y of the projectile without the packing-ring.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre sponding parts in the several figures.

The object of this invention is to obtain a simple mode of combining a packing-ring with an elongated projectile which shall compel it both to transmit to the projectile the rotary motion which it acquires in passing along the rifle-grooves of the gun and to remain securely attached to the projectile during the flight of the latter. It has been proposed to combine the ring with the'projectile by constructing the interior of the ring of polygonal form, and constructing the projectile with a polygonal projection on its base to fit the so-constructed ring; but while this may have provided for the rotary motion of the projectile, it has afforded no adequate provision for preventing the ring from flying off after the discharge of the projectile from the gun.

This invention consists in making the front portion or portions of one or more of the sides of such polygonal projection with an inward inclination, giving the said projection the character of a dovetail, by which the ringis pre' vented from flying off; also, in providing notches or recesses in the shoulder formed upon the projectile in front of the said projection, into which portions of the ring maybe driven by the action of the gases eliminated by the firing of the charge of the gun, and thereby made to aid the ring in transmitting rotary motion to the projectile; and, furthermore, in so forming the ring as to adapt it to be readily set in upon the projecting stem in'such manner as to prevent its displacement during transportation or before the projectile is placed in the gun, as will be hereinafter explained.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to de scribe its construction and operation.

A is the body of the projectile, and b the polygonal projection formed upon its base.

B is the metallic packing-ring, having its interior of polygonal form, corresponding with that of the projection b. The ring is made of such form that it will be expanded circumferentially by the action of the gases eliminated from the charge of the gun in firing, and so driven tightly out against the walls of and into the rifle-grooves of the bore, and with a shoulder, 0, around its interior on the back side. The inward inclination of the front portions of two opposite sides of the polygonal projection is exhibited at a a in Fig. 2, where it will be seen that the front portion of the said projection contiguous to the shoulder 0, formed on the body of the projectile in front of it, presents a dovetail form. I propose generally to make alternate sides of the projectile with such inward inclinations, though all of the sides or any number of them may be so con structed.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 4 radial notches (Z d are portions of the ring. Recesses or indentations of any other form may be substituted for the notches d d.

The polygonal interior of the ring is made of a size to slip or be driven over the rear portion of the projection b, and after having been placed thereon is sufficiently tightened upon the inclined or dovetaillike surfaces at a, by means of some blunt instrument placed upon the shoulder e and struck with a hammer, to .prevent the ring from slipping off in the transportation ofthe projectile. lVhen, after the projectile has been placed in the gun, the charge is fired, the gases act upon the rear of the ring and produce its circumferential expansion against the bore of the gun. The resistance offered by the bore to its expansion causes its interior to be contracted tightly upon the surfaces a a, and so prevent it from flying off the projectile in the flight of the latter, while at the same time the forward pressure of the gases drives the ring bodily forward shown in the shoulder c, for the reception of I against the shoulder a and causes portions of it to indent themselves into the notches d d or their equivalents, which aid the angles of the projection b in transmitting the rotary motion of the ring to the projectile.

I do not claim combining the ring with the projectile by making the interior of the former of polygonal form and placing it upon a polygonal projection upon the latter, nor do I claim, broadly, the employment of a depression or band-receiving cavity at the rear of the projectile but What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with the polygonal eXten sion 1), of the depression a a, notches d cl, and the hollow conical packing-ring 13, formed with a shoulder, c, all the parts being constructed, arranged, and combined to operate together in the manner herein shown and dc scribed.

ALFRED BERNEY.

\Vituesses:

G-oUvR. KEMBLE, Jr., HEXRY T. BROWX. 

